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Love and union in the heart’s journey ~ by Cinzia Dugo

Secret corners to discover and share

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We’ve been
friends for a few years. I offer to take her to discover the beauty and secret corners of Barberino
Val d’Elsa. A stroll through the history and culture of my land. We go in
through the Sienese Gate, the castle greeting us in all its splendor. The
stones’ silence is deafening and the names of Francesco and Andrea da
Barberino, the former, the author of the illuminated book
that included the first references to Dante’s Divine Comedy, the latter, a precursor to chivalric literature, adorn
the street signs, narrating for us the thousand years’ worth of events in this
village that dates to the 13th century. Barberino owes its origin to the Barberini, a
noble family of tailors who went on to boast some of the most influential political
figures of the Italian Renaissance, Pope Urban VIII himself a descendant.

Chapter #2

History and beauty among medieval architecture

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We wander through the small streets, squares and
palaces, like Palazzo Corsini. We stop to admire the Church of San Bartolomeo
and a local shows us a hidden treasure: the ancient church of San Bartolo,
where horseflies from the Barberini coat of arms transformed over the course of
centuries into industrious, working bees.

We continue our stroll, reaching the
Pilgrims' Hospice (Spedale dei Pelligrini).
This is where Andrea da Barberino wrote Guerrin
Meschino (Wretched Guerrin). In
the presence of history, the spectacle of nature and rural tradition, our love
is born.

Chapter #3

From Sant’Appiano to Semifonte. Love grows in disputed territory

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Selma is
like a flower that should be caressed with beauty. I gather my courage and ask
her to marry me. We rehearse in Sant’Appiano,
with one of the oldest parish churches in Tuscany.

The allure of the nave,
the 15th-century frescoes, the story of Gherarduccio dei Gherardini,
an ancestor of the Fitzgerald Kennedy family, buried in the nave. But the ‘yes’
arrives only in the legendary city of Petrognano-Semifonte, the symbol of the rebirth
of that long-disputed and uninhabited land, home to one of the most significant
monuments of the late Renaissance, an exact reproduction of Brunelleschi’s Dome
in 1:8 scale. It’s here that Selma and I swear our eternal love to each other.

Chapter #4

Around Chianti’s castles and villages

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I look at my
three children, Lorenzo, Duccio and Aisha, and I still read the story of a sincere and shared love. Lorenzo loves to ride his bike.
There are no hills that can withstand his inseparable mountain bike, from the
Tignano Castle to those in Linari, Monsanto and Paneretta, through the villages
nestled in the Chianti: Isole Olena, Poneta, Marcialla, San Filippo, San
Martino.

Duccio has fun at the Teatro Regina Margherita and nurtures a passion
for botany at the Giardino SottoVico. Little Aisha loves observing the sky from
the Osservatorio Polifunzionale del Chianti. For each of us, regardless of
origin, there is value in growing up in such a welcoming territory. In every
corner of the Chianti your small dream of love and union can come to life. Just
like mine and Selma’s, which celebrates 50 years this year.